Fault-mediated melt ascent in a Neoproterozoic continental flood basalt province, the Franklin sills, Victoria Island, Canada

The Neoproterozoic Franklin large igneous province on Victoria Island, Canada, is characterized by continental flood basalts and a sill-dominated feeder system. Field relationships indicate that fault-guided transfer zones allowed magma to jump up-section to form higher-level intrusions. Where sills connect to dikes and magmas moved up-section, roof and wall rocks are characterized by wide and intense contact-metamorphic haloes, consistent with throughflow of magma. The geometric constraints suggest that conduits may have opened episodically and then closed when magma pressure waned. The episodic nature of conduit opening events can explain the pulsed ascent of crystal slurries, and may also play a role in the deposition of Ni-sulfides.